Trivia about the UP’s Official Seal, Carillon, Oblation and Centennial Logo

1. The UP Official Seal – the bird depicted in the logo of the University of the Philippines is an eagle. Its widespread wings symbolize the vision of the university to be a center of academic freedom. It also represents the UP students who are trained to offer their lives in the service of the Filipino people.

2. The UP Carillon- more than half a century ago, in 1952, the UP Alumni Association, headed by then President Hermenegildo R. Reyes, gifted the university with 46 carillon bells housed in a 130 feet tower designed by National Artist Juan Nakpil, known then as the Memorial Campanile. The Carillon was dedicated to the spirit of UP Alumni. Today, towering above the landscape of the eastern part of the UP Diliman Campus, it is still regarded as one of the symbols of the University.

3. The Oblation was made by Professor Guillermo E. Tolentino with the help of his student apprentice, Anastacio T. Caedo. Caedo served as the model for the sculpture. The concrete sculpture measures 8.5 meters in height and was painted to look like bronze, symbolizing the 350 years of Spanish rule in the Philippines. The sculpture shows a figure of a young man who is completely nude, with outstretched arms and open hands. The head is tilted, eyes closed and lips partially open murmuring a prayer, with breast forward in the act of offering himself. The statue stands on a rustic base, a stylized rugged shape of the Philippine Archipelago, lined with big and small hard rocks, each of which represents an island.

The original sculpture is being kept at the Main Library (Gonzales Hall), the former site of the UP College of Fine Arts where Tolentino taught.

4. The UP Centennial Logo – the figure in the foreground of the Centennial Logo is the oblation, a symbolic icon representing the University of the Philippines. Behind it is the Sablay, the sash worn by the UP students upon their graduation and a globe with the map of the Philippines highlighted. This represents the University’s taking its rightful place in the world as the National University of the Philippines.